Sports, Ink

Indianapolis Star sports columnist Bob Kravitz caused a stir with his column on Wednesday, in which he wonders if Indiana Pacers President and NBA legend Larry Bird is trying to build a team dominated by white players.

In a league that is nearly 90 percent African-American, half of the Pacers' roster is white. They also drafted North Carolina All-American Tyler Hansborough, who is white, with their first-round pick.

Bird once said in an interview that the NBA needed more white players to create excitement among its mostly white ticket-buying fan base. There also is the issue of those embarrassing incidents, including that brawl in Detroit, involving some African-American Pacer players that turned off Indy's white fans who fill most of the seats at Conseco Fieldhouse.

There might be a racial component to the Pacers' roster, but I don't think Bird is being a racist.  It should be noted that eight of Bird's last 10 draft picks were African-American. The Pacers' best player, Danny Granger, is African-American as well.

For anyone to suggest that Bird's player moves are racially motivated is crazy. He was color blind as a player and he still is as an NBA executive. The make up of his roster is purely coincidental. Bird needs to win to stay employed, so it wouldn't be smart to put together a team that can't.

---Allen Wilson